‘Entourage’ Recap: Turtle Burns Down the House

That’s it for this eighth and final season of “Entourage” – just eight episodes to get the lives and storylines of fictional movie star Vincent Chase and his friends squared away before the show calls it quits.

How’d the final, brief season get started Sunday night on HBO? Here’s how – the five most important plot points from the season premiere and what (we think) they meant:

1) Sloan and E – it’s really over. Or is it? We think this couple – played by Emmanuelle Chriqui and Kevin Connolly – is really kaput this time. In the premiere episode’s opening scene, Sloan coldly demanded that Eric get his stuff out of her house. And later, she mailed him the $30,000 engagement ring he bought her. Ouch!

2) Speaking of couples who look to be unsalvageable – Ari (Jeremy Piven) and Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves) appear headed for divorce now that they’re 10 weeks into their separation. In the episode’s most dramatic scene, she told him she’s seeing someone else and Ari’s heartbroken, crestfallen reaction may have been Piven’s finest piece of acting in eight seasons, and that’s saying a lot.

3) Vince is out of rehab and eager to relaunch his career. Much of the episode centered on clean-and-sober Vince (Adrian Grenier) and his return from 90 days at Promises Malibu. He returned to resume his life with housemates Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), E and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) as in days of old, but their living arrangement didn’t last long.

4) Turtle burns down the house. How? By carelessly tossing a lit joint out a window with a curtain that trapped a spark and caught fire. And so, no sooner had Vince returned home than they were all homeless, at least temporarily.

5) The return of Andrew Dice Clay. You’ll see the seldom-seen comedian starting next weekend, but his voice was heard on Johnny Drama’s new animated series about gorilla brothers, “Johnny Bananas.” The Dice Man’s story arc figures to be one of the best “Entourage” plot developments in years.